No, I don’t mean your chronological age, you know, the one that is determined by your birthday. Everyone knows how old they are using that criteria. I mean, do you know how old you really are? Are you biologically younger, older, or the same as your calendar age?

The average lifespan for an American is 72 for men and 78 for women. Based on various factors that have a direct or indirect impact on longevity your lifespan may be either longer or shorter than these averages. So, how old you really are is based on how much longer or shorter you might expect to live in comparison with the average.

For example, I am 42 years old, according to my birthday. However, my “Real Age” is 29 years old according RealAge.com, a popular health website that assesses your real age according to your lifestyle, diet, execercise, genetics and many other health-related factors. Find out your real age today by taking the free assessment at RealAge.com. You will even get a customized action-plan for lowering your real age in as little as 90 days. Just click the image below and find out what your Real Age is.

If you would like to have a free coaching session to discuss your health goals or any other goals you may have just click the link below to submit your request.

To Your Success,

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

The other day I was tidying up in the kitchen when I heard all heck break loose downstairs. Apparently there was some sort of exchange between by 14 year old daughter and my 8 year old son. My boy came out on the short end of the stick, suffering some minor lacerations to his knee. Although it seemed clear that it was an accident the first thing my son said to me when I arrived on the scene was, “She did it on purpose.” This statement gave me pause to think about how we use the phrase, “on purpose“.

Was it really my daughter’s “purpose” to injure her brother? I don’t think so, nor is that what he meant when he said it. Usually when we say, “on purpose” what we really mean is “intentionally”. However, intention and purpose are two very different things. We might occasionally do things intentionally that have nothing to do with our purpose. But to have a purpose, a clear and meaningful one, and to be on that purpose, now that is something that can have a meaningful and lasting impact in our lives and the lives of others.

As this New Year unfolds let me encourage you to have a purpose, know that purpose inside and out, and focus your energy and efforts toward being truly “on purpose.” Being on purpose is like being on target, and that is one target you definitely don’t want to miss.

If you would like to learn more about your purpose and how to be on purpose in your life let me encourage you to sign up for a free coaching session by clicking the link below.

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach
Mission Ignition, Inc.

I was talking to a prospective coaching client the other day. As I was explaining the emphasis we place on balance and personal success in our coaching programs he interjected and made an interesting comment. He said to me, “Kip, I know I have some things I need to improve on personally, but for right now I really need to just focus on improving my business.”

What a revelation! In one sentence he revealed a paradigm that more than anything else was holding him back from being as successful as he could be. There is one principle, one natural law, one fundamental truth that he was not recognizing and applying, and that is this:

No Success, including Business Success, can precede Personal Success.

You see this is the deal, the crux of it all really. The fastest car in the world doesn’t win the race without a highly skilled driver; the finest paint and brushes have no meaningful impact on the canvas without the hand of a talented artist; and successful, highly effective businesses are run by people who are successful and highly effective as human beings. It is a PRErequisite. Being an effective, successful person does not come after first building a successful business or career. IT COMES FIRST!!! If Business Success is the chicken, and Personal Success is the egg, then the answer to the age-old question is most definitely and emphatically “The Egg!”, and if you will take the time to nurture the egg (your personal effectiveness) you will find it results in a more robust and healthy chicken (in other words, a great business/career).

Deep down you know this is true, we all do. Yet so many would try to convince themselves they can take the shortcut that no one else has been able to take, that somehow they can have the business success they desire without doing the work on themselves first. Why do so many try it? Why do they skip the part where they work on themselves and work on other things first? The answer is fear.

Think of it this way, if I try my hand at creating a successful business and fail I can reason that it was due to any number of reasons and circumstances outside my control. However, if I work on being an effective person and fail… well, you can see how this pill might prove a little harder to swallow if we let such fears get the best of us. As a result, most of us focus our efforts in either the wrong place, or in the right place but prematurely (in other words, without working on personal effectiveness first).

My Challenge to You:

1. Focus your efforts on becoming a highly effective person, one who makes and keeps commitments to yourself and has a high degree of personal integrity and follow through, even when no one else knows of your commitment.

2. Be an excellent manager of your time. It’s not about scheduling every minute of your time, but rather doing the right thing at the right time.

3. Establish habits that will serve you throughout the rest of your life, habits that will lead you to succeed regardless of your chosen business or career endeavors.

If you will do these things I am confident you will enjoy tremendous success in all aspects of your life, including business and career.

To get a Free Coaching Session to discuss your Business and Personal Success and Effectiveness just click the link below:

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

There are plenty of planning methods out there. There are a lot of different ways to organize your schedule. Which one is best? Well, of course the answer can be highly subjective. However, based on my experience in coaching thousands of clients, to be more effective in getting the results they want out of business and life I have found a method that works best for most. It is Roles-based Planning and it can make all the difference in the success you achieve in the significant roles in your life. Here’s how it works:

1st:
Clearly define your vision for each of your significant roles in your life. Are you a Business Leader, a Husband, a Mother, a Friend? What is your vision for fulfilling those roles in your life? The more clear and well-articulated the vision the greater the likelihood you will achieve it.

2nd:
Plan goals for each role each week. These are not necessarily big, long-term goals, but rather goals that can be fulfilled and accomplished within the coming week. List these goals right under your roles. The most common way to do this is called a Weekly Compass (right).

3rd:
Time-activate your goals into your schedule. I suggest you color-coordinate them with a different color for each role. I use blue for my role as a Business Leader and pink for my role as a Husband, purple for my role as a Father and yellow for my role as a Coach. The colors you choose are up to you. Of course this will add a few minutes to the planning process. However, the increased effectiveness in the execution of your plan will make it more than worth it. Here is a sample calendar that has been color-coordinated to match the Weekly Compass and Roles it is associated with (click calendar to enlarge):

This life, and the success we enjoy in it, is all tied to relationships, and every relationship we have is tied to a role the we play in that relationship. The more successful you are in your roles, the more successful you are in life.

To your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

One of the important “spokes” on the Wheel of Life, that I have blogged about in the past, is Fun & Recreation. In working with over 3,000 clients I have found that when time gets tight this is one of the first things to be sacrificed by most people. I have come to the conclusion that this is not the wisest path to take.

Fun & Recreation are important, even critical, to one’s self-renewal. Even break down the word “recreation” and what do you have? Re-Creation! We need to constantly re-create and renew ourselves. Human Beings are so-wired that we need to have fun and laugh and smile. In fact, we are hard-wired for this. It is a proven fact that just smiling, even when you don’t feel like doing so, will release a very small amount of endorphins in the brain, the very chemical that causes us to feel good. Keep smiling long enough, and eventually you really do feel like smiling. Add laughter to that equation and look out, you’re feeling pretty great before you know it. Engage in activities you personally find to be fun and recreational and you are getting some much-needed renewal.

One of the exercises I assign to my Coaching Clients is called, “20 Things I Love To Do”. Basically, it’s like this:

Take out a piece of paper, or turn on you computer and begin brainstorming things that you love to do. Never mind how long it’s been since you last did it. Maybe it was yesterday for some, or 20 years ago for others. The point is that it’s a brainstorm, so no “editing” while you’re writing. Come up with at least 20 things and put them on your list.

Next, ask the following questions for each of the items you brainstormed:

1. How long since I last did this?
2. Do I prefer to do it alone, or with someone?
3. Is it Job Related?
4. Is it generally done spontaneously, or does it require some planning?
5. Is it more fast-paced, or slow-paced?
6. Is it Mental, Physical, Social, or Spiritual (or any combination of the four)?
7. Does it cost money, or is it free?

The answers to these questions are merely to shed a little insight into the things you love to do, and help you choose what you might do next, and then do it.

So, don’t delay. Having Fun and Re-Creating are critical to your success and happiness. I suggest you start right away.

If you would like to see what your Balance Score is for Fun & Recreation in your life, just click the link below to take a Free Personal Assessment of your balance.

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

Imagine that you are standing on a beach. You have 100 pounds of seaweed in your right hand. It is wet, heavy, messy, smelly, tangled, and has bugs crawling in it. It is generally unpleasant in virtually every way. It is heavy enough that you are straining just to keep from dropping it. And you don’t want to drop it because you perceive that mixed in with the unpleasant seaweed are many important things you would not want to drop. So, you hang on.

In your left hand you have one tiny, shiny grain of sand. Though it is small it is very pleasant to look at as it catches the sunlight. Have you ever noticed how a beach sparkles in the sunlight? If you were to look at this shiny grain of sand under a magnifying glass you would see that it looks almost like a jewel or gem because it has been polished by the pounding waves for thousands of years.

What weighs more, the seaweed or the grain of sand? Of course the seaweed far outweighs the grain of sand. But what does each represent?

The seaweed represents all the problems, trials, challenges, annoyances, frustrations, overwhelm, inundation and stress that often accompanies some of the weighty, urgent, important things in our lives.

The tiny, shiny grain of sand represents the little things in life that we feel good about. It could be any little thing, even as small as cleaning your sock drawer and feeling good about it, or doing a good deed for someone, or getting a hug from a child, or appreciating the beauty of a rare double rainbow. The point is that these are the small things in life that we feel good about. As nice as these little things are, and as good as they make us feel, the seaweed still far outweighs the individual grains of sand. However, where did I say you were standing? That’s right, on a beach. And what weighs more, the hundred pounds of seaweed or the entire beach? Of course, it is not even close. The beach may weigh millions of tons. The seaweed pales in comparison. There is an old saying, “I can’t see the forrest for the trees.” Well, sometimes we cannot see the beach for the seaweed. We need to count the tiny, shiny grains of sand in our lives so that they can accumulate in our hearts and minds, thus forming a beach of happiness, peace, and success.

Oh, the seaweed will still be there, but I can promise you it will pale in comparison to the beach full of wonderful things in your life.

I will leave you with a little poem I wrote to remind you of this principle of the Sand and the Seaweed:

The Shining Sand
by Kip Kint

The other night I had a dream
I was standing on a beach
Heavy seaweed filled my arms
Relief could not be reached

I wondered why this burden was mine
Such heavy weight to bear
This seaweed filled with sorrow
Requiring all my care

Then in my dream I understood
The meaning of it all
The seaweed was all my trials
And bearing them was my call

Then in the midst of my labor
I saw the sand sparkling bright
At once it came to me with clarity
The shortness of my sight

Each grain of sand had been polished
Over thousands of years of time
By the pounding waves of the ocean
Into priceless jewels sublime

These little gems, though lighter
Than the seaweed in my hold
Represent the small but priceless things
With worth much greater than gold

And though the weight of the seaweed was great
And weighed upon my mind
The weight of the entire beach was greater
With those grains of sand combined

When you can’t see the forest for the trees
Because the weight of challenges demand
You may be focused on seaweed so much
That you cannot see the sand

That precious sand, those little things
They have so much to teach
But only if we count them up
Will they ever make a beach

A beach of blessings, a beach of joy
A beach where one can stand
And know that life’s heavy seaweed is light
When compared to its shining sand

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

Okay, so last time I wrote about the 4 Levels of Competence. Here is a quick reminder:

1. Unconscious Incompetence (You stink and don’t know it)
2. Conscious Incompetence (You stink and you know you stink)
3. Conscious Competence (You are pretty good, but you have to think about it)
4. Unconscious Competence (You are really good, and it is automatic - a habit)

So, this week I want to talk about how to progress through these levels in order to maximize your effectiveness.

I want you to imagine that you are driving down the road in a high-powered Ferrari Testarosa. You are traveling 100 mph on a 6-lane Superhighway. It is long and straight; really built for speed. As you look far off into the distance you come to the sudden realization that you are not headed where you want to go. In fact, you realize that you are not driving at all. You look over to see who is in the driver’s seat only to discover that your “brain” is at the wheel. You have just moved from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Incompetence.

When I say your “brain” I mean that part of your brain that is responsible for processing your reactions to external stimuli. You ”your higher self, your values, mission, and vision for what matters most to you” that’s the part of you that is in the passenger’s seat. You see, your brain is primarily concerned with how quickly it can process the particular stimulus it is presented with. To do that it uses something called Neural Pathways. These pathways in the brain are created by repetitive use. The more use they receive, the more of a Neural Superhighway they become, meaning stimuli can be processed and action (or rather reaction) can happen almost instantaneously. The only problem is that the pathway your brain uses may not lead to the response that your higher self might prefer and the ultimate outcome you desire.

For example, I have an uncle who every time someone comes even remotely close to cutting him of on the road he automatically responds by letting the other driver know how passionately he feels about it, generally using colorful sign language punctuated with the generous use of his horn. Surely it is not the most effective response, but it is the response his brain is conditioned to give because of the frequent use of that particular Neural Pathway, or in this particular case, Neural Superhighway.

So, what to do about it. Once again, imagine you are in the Ferrari. For now, the brain is still driving. You look out to the right side of the highway and see a beautiful place far off in the distance that you would like to get to. Then you notice that in between the highway and the place where you want to be there is a field of incredibly tall grass with no road or pathway of any kind through it. Yet, you know you want to get there. So, you decide to propose a change of course to your brain. Of course, your brain immediately fixates on the fact that there is no pathway at all, let alone a marvelous Superhighway like the one you are currently on, and says to you, “This is exactly why I am driving and you are not. Can’t you see how fast we are going. So what if it is not where you want to go. That is a minor detail compared to how fast we can travel on this Superhighway.”

It is difficult to argue this logic with your deeply scripted brain, primarily because your brain does not make these decisions based on logic. As we said before, to the brain, speed of response is all that matters. For you there is only one thing left to do. You must grab your brain by its metaphorical collar and yank it out of the driver’s seat. You must assume control, pull the Ferrari over, drag your brain out of the car and arduously press forward through the field of tall grass, forcing your way through, dragging your brain kicking and screaming behind you until you reach your desired destination. You will be happy you did. This is Conscious Competence, getting to where you want to go even though it is not easy, nor automatic. Your brain, though it will know it is a good place you have arrived at, will focus on the difficulty of the journey. If you don’t travel that same course again soon the grass that was briefly bent as you made your way through will show no trace of your journey shortly after.

You must travel your new course again, and again, and by so doing the grass becomes matted down, then slightly worn away into a small path, then a byway, then a highway, and before you know it you will have a new Neural Superhighway leading you to a more effective response and course of action. In fact, you could even put your brain back in the driver’s seat and it will prefer that new Superhighway you have created since the old one has now fallen into disrepair from lack of attention and use. This is the highest level of competence where you become Unconsciously Competent.

So, get in the driver’s seat and forge a new Superhighway… a Superhighway to Effectiveness!

To your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

There are four levels of competence:

1. Unconscious Incompetence - Translation: You stink and don’t even know it.

2. Conscious Incompetence - Translation: You stink, but at least you know that you stink.

3. Conscious Competence - Translation: You don’t stink anymore. In fact, you’re getting pretty good, but it’s not automatic, yet. You have to think about it consciously, but you are able to execute competently when you do.

4. Unconscious Competence - Translation: You are the complete opposite of stinking. In fact you are excellent, and the best part is you don’t even have to think about it. It is automatic for you. It has become a habit (the good kind).

So, where are you? No positive change can be made in ignorance. You must have awareness to get to Level 2. Focus all your effort on correcting the things you are aware of at Level 2, and repeating over and over the things you do are doing well at Level 3. That repetition will ultimately lead you to Level 4 where lasting success can be achieved.

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition

I had a great opportunity to attend a Corporate Alliance Relationship Summit over the past two and a half days. This was my third Relationship Summit overall, but I was struck once again by the power of relationships. I had the awesome privilege of spending quality time connecting with some of this state’s (Utah) most influential business leaders.

I learned again about the power Learn… Serve… Grow… model that Corporate Alliance teaches its clients.

Learn

We must Learn about other people, about their hearts and minds, about their wants and needs, about who they are and what matters to them. Why? Just Because! Not because it will eventually mean business for you, not because you will get something out of it, not because there is some reward in it for you, but rather just because your life will be enriched for genuinely connecting and forming a relationship with another valuable person.

Serve

Next we need to create the opportunity to Serve. What can you do for, or with, another person to bring value or meaning to their lives, whether on a business or personal level. In seeking for and creating opportunities to Serve others your relationships with strengthen and deepen and your influence with them will expand, not to mention their influence with others on your behalf.

Grow

Through Learning about and Serving others you will see your relationships and influence Grow to a whole new level, and even though your intention is Just Because, as your relationships Grow you will undoubtedly see your business and your opportunities Grow as well.

One of my favorite sayings from the wonderful folks at Corporate Alliance is…

“Every opportunity has its root in a relationship!”

So why build lasting, meaningful relationships in business? “Just Because!” is the only answer you’ll ever need.

To your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.

Sometimes the road of life feels bumpy…

…although we don’t usually get the warning sign.

But is it the road of life that is so bumpy?  The road might actually be like this…

…and still feel quite bumpy.  Why is that?  Well, it may not be the road that is the problem.  It may well be the wheel you are traveling on.

There is a certain balance to life, call it the Wheel of Life, and if your Wheel of Life is out of balance your ride is going to be bumpy, even if the road is smooth.  Your Wheel of Life has 8 “spokes” if you will.  Each spoke on the Wheel of Life represents a different significant role or segment of your life.  They are:

1. Business/Career
2. Finances
3. Health
4. Family and Friends
5. Romance
6. Personal Growth
7. Fun and Recreation
8. Physical Environment

When you look at these areas in the Wheel of Life they look something like this:

Once you self-assess your performance and satisfaction on a scale from 1 - 10 in each area your actual Wheel of Life may look a little more like this:

Now, imagine driving on such a wheel.  It wouldn’t matter how smooth the road is, the ride is going to be quite bumpy.

“What if I am all 3’s?” you might ask, “Isn’t that balanced?”  Well, technically speaking, yes.  However, that would be a little like putting perfectly balanced skateboard wheels on a Ferrari.  The car would have to work hundreds of times harder to travel only a fraction of the distance and speed.  We don’t just want balance, we want optimal balance.

So, do you have to be all 10’s?  Not necessarily, but consider this: You decide what a 10 is for you.  We are not talking about perfection; we are talking about what you want in any given area of your life and fulfilling your vision for that part of your Wheel of Life.

Whatever the heart and mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

~ W. Clement Stone, American Best Selling Author and Founder of Combined Insurance Company (now part of Aon Corp.), 1902 - 2002

If you lack balance how can you stand, let alone travel from where you are to where you want to be.  Balance is the very key to lasting success, in any part of your life.

Take your own Wheel of Life Personal Assessment by clicking on the Wheel of Life below:

To Your Success!

Kip Kint
Success Coach & President
Mission Ignition, Inc.